


No Plan Survives

by expendable



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alaska, Alcohol, Dubious Consent, Explicit Language, F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kidnapping, Original Character(s), Rough Sex, Sleep Deprivation, Strangers to Lovers, Vaginal Sex, Violence, but i'm not sure they will be "in love", slow start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:22:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29145888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/expendable/pseuds/expendable
Summary: Rey's always been clever.She has many unanswered questions from her past, but now she has finally broken free and is running towards the future she desires.Until she's suddenly not.Now, she has been detained.Her freedom has been stripped and she's forced to spend the long Alaskan winter with a man named Kylo.Because if she doesn't?The elements will destroy her.Nature doesn't care who you are or what you are hiding from.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone...this is my first fic on this site (and in many years). Please let me know if there is anything else I can/should tag & just know I hope to have more chapters up soon. Chapters 2 & 3 are written but need to be typed up; after that comes the part I'm getting excited about.

There was a duck on the wall that Rey just couldn’t stop staring at. 

Actually, what she was really curious about was the man sitting directly under the fowl. She knew that staring at him would only cause trouble, so she kept peeking glances at the duck every thirty seconds like an overprotective parent watching a toddler at the playground.

Rey averted her eyes from both male and mallard to swirl the almost empty glass in front of her. She contemplated whether the cost of another would earn her any useful information.

“I know who you are.” The man spoke clearly yet quietly next to her ear and she smelled the fraternal scent of the beer he had been drinking just a few moments earlier. 

She tensed. Despite everything. Her shoulders clenched and her breath drew inward. She had been expecting this. In fact, she’d been anticipated this for so long that she had practiced keeping her composure in restroom and motel mirrors many times. Rey had trained herself over time not to flinch or waiver a bit; to maintain an even keel and a steady eye. She had full confidence in her skills, but the way her body betrayed her now was unprecedented and fully disappointing. Tonight was not where she thought the past would catch up to her. 

She was in Alaska, for gods' sakes. 

Rey swiveled slightly towards him on her bar stool.

“You must be mistaken,” she murmured while finishing the last sip of her beer. 

She hadn’t noticed how large he was until he moved half an inch closer. It felt like a gigantic tidal wave was hovering over her head as he leaned a little further into her personal space.

“I’m not,” he said, “and you’re not leaving this bar in the manner you were planning.” 

Her pulse quickened. What could she possibly do or say to prove him wrong? After everything she’d been through, after all the plotting and planning, was she really this easy to catch? 

When you had faked your own death and actually succeeded you begin to lull yourself into a sense of safety that maybe you were an outlier. That nothing like this would ever happen to you. 

The world is full of missing women. Every day, someone’s maimed body found in the woods. Every day, more girls found bound in basements. Those are the types of stories you hear about. The stories people follow, obsess over, and remember. 

Not Rey’s story. 

She set down her glass on the bar and shrugged back into her black Patagonia jacket. Took her hair and swept it up into a ponytail before putting a fleece headband over her ears. She took a good look at the man once more. There was no way she could fight him off if he did try to attack her.

There were slight brown tobacco stains at the corners of his mouth tinging the blond hairs. His hat was still on and pulled down tight, covering half of the very bushy eyebrows. His eyes were not joking. 

“You must have me confused with someone else,” she said, once more trying to gain some distance. She averted his gaze and let her head tilt slightly, hoping her feigned confusion would jolt him into second-guessing himself. It was cliche and the only thing she could think of to say. 

They both knew Rey was full of shit. 

She reached into her pocket for some bills to put on the counter.

He grabbed her hand as it went into her pocket. 

“Just leaving a tip,” she said, shaking her hand free. “If I am who you think I am, would I draw a gun in a bar full of people? If I shoot you aren’t I going to be noticed?” 

“Come with me,” he commanded, pulling her abruptly and managing to lead Rey through the bar with a hand on her back in such a manner that none of the other four patrons in the sad shack of a place realized that anything unusual was occurring. The door jingled as it shut behind them; the happy warmth now far out of reach. 

Her mind was still trying to piece everything together as the man pushed her around the side of the building. This guy didn’t look like who he would send, she reasoned. Why would he be sending anyone when everyone was supposed to think I had died in a helicopter crash back in California? If he was telling the truth and he was actually sent by her fiance and those bastards, she could never go back. She just couldn’t. So she pled. 

“Please, don’t take me back.” She winced. Rey knew how pathetic it sounded even as she was saying it. She hated to grovel.

“With the reward money, it’s certainly tempting,” he growled, pulling harder to keep her close to him as she tried to wiggle out of his grip. 

There was reward money? This was highly frightening information. In the years since the infrastructure of humanity had begun to crumble, only one thing could buy you guaranteed shelter, food, medicine, and safety and that was actual paper money. Those that had it had a lot of it and hated giving any to those that didn’t have at least as much as them. That her fiance was considering a money offering to someone like this sent a strong message. 

“Tempting? Tempting?” she probed. “You aren’t going to do it?”

“No,” he said, “But I am going to do this.” He turned around and struck Rey hard with a closed fist. 

xxx

The fun didn’t stop there. When Rey’s eyes fluttered open again she was laying on a worn plaid blanket in what she could only assume was yet another cheap motel. There was a high chance that there were already bed bugs crawling all over her body. This didn’t concern her as much as the restraints on her wrists and ankles. 

There was also something small, cold, and circular pressed to her temple.

“Oh just do it,” she snapped. 

“Rey,” he said. Her name sounded coarse and tainted in his mouth. 

“Yeah, you know my name, so what? If you are going to kill me, just do it already.” She sighed. “It’s vastly preferable to returning to where I came from and I assume you know where that is, you merc.” 

“How many fucking times do I have to tell you I’m not going to kill you, you dumb bitch?” His face was becoming even more unattractive, turning a deep salmon color. “You wouldn’t fucking shut up even when I punched you in the face. Whimpering like a baby about being found out. I’m telling you now: shut your damned mouth and listen.”

“Take the fucking gun off my temple then.”

She really did need to learn how to shut up, especially when there was no way to defend herself.

He smashed her already broken nose with the butt of the pistol before putting it away. Blood dripped down Rey’s face and she howled.

“That better?” he didn’t look pleased or satisfied with the injury he’d inflicted. “Alright princess, if you’re ready to listen I’m going to enlighten you now. Make one squeak before I’m done and your sad little face is going to look like a raw hamburger patty.” He walked to the desk across the room and took a bottle of water off of it. Then, into the bathroom, where he emerged with a ratty hotel washcloth. 

“Don’t struggle,” he commanded as he poured water on the cloth and began to clean off Rey’s face. It was only now that she began to realize how tired she was. The water was soothing even though the bruises and cuts throbbed.

“My name is Dale,” he started. Rey snorted, despite herself.

“I didn’t have to tell you that,” Dale said, furrowing his brows. “You called me a mercenary, but that just isn’t true. I’m not a merc, I’m just a smart guy who saw an opportunity.” He gave Rey another long stare, almost daring her to say something. This time, she kept her mouth firmly shut.

“I don’t have any interest in the fact that you are still alive when you mean to be dead or whatever all that is about. I wouldn’t care at all if you were dead or alive except for the fact that I’ve got me a debt that needs paying. I owe someone a favor. It’s not your fiance or his fucking family. I don’t want the money.” He took a moment to spit on the carpet. “I need to clear the debt, you see? You’ll do very nicely.”

After this announcement, Dale got up from his crouched position by Rey and sauntered back to the bathroom door, where he threw the stained washcloth into the tub. She could hear the wet slop of the thing hitting the wall and tumbling into the shower, defeated. 

“I’m not a bad guy.” Dale crossed his arms over his chest and looked hard at the framed abstract painting hanging over the bed. He came and plopped down on the bed next to where Rey lay prone on her side. 

As if a man who just kidnapped a woman and assaulted her twice wasn’t evil. This Rey couldn’t let get past her without a remark. She laughed, a low raspy chuckle. “You’re deranged,” she whispered. 

“God! I wish I could make you shut up!” Dale’s hands were clenched tightly again now. Rey noticed that the gun was laying on the same desk he had taken the water bottle from earlier. “I’m already fucked for messing up your face. I would apologize, but knowing your type, you wouldn’t accept it anyway.” He jolted off the bed and bent down, rummaging on the floor for something. 

Didn’t want to mess up her face? Oh shit, Rey thought. I know where this is headed. “So. Prostitution then?” she asked.

He popped up from the side of the bed, looking like a tumbleweed who had mated with a weasel. His hat was gone and masses of curly hair, the same blond as his beard, sprang out from his head in every direction. He combed his hand through the tangles and gazed at her again. This whole fucking thing started with too much eye contact and she wished he would stop with the whole process. It reminded Rey of the tactics supposedly used to assert dominance in a group of animals. Of course, that was probably exactly what this was. This grizzled Yukon Jack was going to be her pimp. She was now just another bitch on her way to whatever whorehouse he had. Maybe it was even ran out of this motel. Maybe she was never going to leave this room, see the sun again. Rey felt her sanity slipping, for just a second. She closed her eyes to escape his stare, refusing to ponder this chilling possibility further. 

The room smelled like mildew and there was a draft coming from her left side. She wiggled her fingers and toes, trying to keep her circulation going. Whatever he had used to tie her up was soft, but tight. Rey was thankful for the first time all night that at least he hadn’t used flex cuffs or chains. 

You knew you were in a really bad spot when you were grateful for something like that. 

When she finally opened her eyes a few minutes later, Dale was still in the exact same spot, kneeling on the floor. The hand in his hair was furiously trying to untangle some kind of snaggle, and his other hand grasped a bottle of Jack Daniels around the neck. He bent down to the bottle and unscrewed the cap with his teeth.

“How charming.” Rey intoned. With the sweetest voice she could muster she asked, “Are you going to share?”

“Okay.” That one word was spoken back softly to her. Maybe he did feel some sort of remorse. He stood, leaving the bottle on the ground, and propped Rey up on the bed the best he could.

“You could untie me,” she suggested.

“Fat chance.”

There were no cups, so Dale carefully poured the drink into her mouth before drinking himself. She winced as some inevitably dripped into her wounds. He was generous with the whiskey and that was no small comfort tonight. Whatever came next, she would rather be numb and dumb. 

There were only three possible outcomes in Rey’s mind now. If he was going to rape her or set her up for sex work here in this motel, he’d probably have to untie her soon and Rey still couldn’t see that happening. So, only two options. Either he was lying and was working up the nerve to kill her or they weren’t going to actually stay here much longer. 

Not knowing if that was a good or a bad thing, Rey let the whiskey keep coming. She swallowed mindlessly until sleep took her under.

Dale stayed watching all the while.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it's safe to continue on with our story now...thank you to everyone who left kudos and viewed chapter one!

Rey noticed the chill on her legs before she even opened her eyes. She rubbed them together the best she could. Yes, they were indeed bare. Her eyes flew open in alarm. Naked from the waist down.

She screamed.

Dale popped his head out from behind the half closed bathroom door. It was obvious he was still taking a leak while staring at her, which would have been upsetting enough if she was unrestrained, clothed, and actually wanting to be in his presence. Rey let off an expletive filled few sentences and tried to squirm her way off the bed She almost made it, but Dale caught her and tossed her body back on the bed. He clamped an unwashed hand over her mouth. “Look, I didn’t rape you if that’s what you’re thinking. You had beer at the bar and then I was dumb and gave you all that whiskey, and you…well…you weren’t dry his morning, okay?” He struggled with the last bit, like mentioning urination was a highly delicate thing, whereas everything else that had occurred was just a regular part of his life.

Rey sighed. She believed him. He didn’t look like a man who had received any sort of release lately. The clenched fists were still there, the tight jaw still resided on his face. Even the hat was firmly back on his head with the mess of curls stuffed tightly underneath. After a few moments, her adrenaline began to settle back down. Hoping to regain some small amount of dignity, she asked for her pants back. 

“Can’t,” he said, “Still wet. Had to hand wash ‘em.” His eyes averted Rey and didn’t look back at her the rest of the morning.

After that, time passed by in trickles. The most interesting part was the twenty minutes or so it took him to pack up the two duffle bags and finish the bottle of whiskey that had been sitting on the nightstand next to an unplugged telephone. Every ten minutes or so he’d walk back into the bathroom to feel her pants. “Still wet,” he grumbled. 

Around 11 A.M, he fiddled with the coffeemaker. The whole process sent up a hushed stream of curse words as his large hands fiddled with the tiny machine. When the hot liquid finally came sputtering out, Rey may have let out a little groan. It smelled so good and comforting. She was usually a three cup a day girl, extra cream. 

After he slowly drank the entire paper cup, he turned towards Rey again, able to look her in the eyes once more after quickly throwing a heavy blue blanket over her lower half. The blanket scratched Rey like hell, but she was appreciative for the modesty it gave in the particular circumstances.

“There’s more I have to tell you.” He threw the empty cup across the room. “Like I was saying yesterday, I owe someone a favor----stop looking at me like that---I’m going to untie you before we leave here probably so just hold your horses.” 

Well, that was good news. Her joints ached something fierce. 

“I’m plenty angry for myself for what I did to your face. We are gonna have to do something about that.”

“What? Pound it in even more? A face isn’t exactly clay. You can’t just reshape the whole thing once it’s flat.” Rey’s voice sounded dry, but strong. 

“No, princess, a story,” he said in a slightly warmer tone than she’d noticed so far. “I’m taking you somewhere really far away from here. The end of the line, you could say. We’ll just pretend something happened to you on the trip. Like we got into some trouble steering and you got your face smacked with a really large branch or something. That should work….let’s go with that. Please, none of your stupid shit this time.” The death glare again. He looked actually afraid. Apparently whoever she was to be delivered to wouldn’t look too fondly on women beating. That was encouraging. 

“Okay,” Rey agreed, “I’ll stick to the story.”

This brought the closest thing she’d see to a smile to his face. The corners of his eyes crinkled and she finally felt a spark of hope that she’d make it through this ordeal. There would probably end up being a good time for her to make a run for it. Even guys as large and intimidating as the one messed up sometimes, let their guards down. 

If there was one quality of Rey’s she was confident in, it was her unwavering patience. She could wait weeks or months if that is what It would take. Every moment spent waiting was another moment learning more about what exactly the web she was in entailed. For example, she’d sat in silence for three years, plotting and planning her escape and managing to pull off the most convincing performance of her life to date. Going along with this plan of Dale’s wouldn’t be that difficult. She’d just have to keep what he called her “goddamn mouth” in check. 

That would be easier now that she knew she was going to keep her life a little bit longer.

xxx

The sun was nowhere to be found when they got up to leave the hotel early that next morning. Dale had finally untied Rey in order to outfit her back into her clean (yet stiff) jeans, an oversized pair of snow pants, another jacket on top of her black one, a baklava, a pair of something he referred to as “bunny boots”, and a thick pair of gloves. The gloves he had to force down onto her fingers himself, like a parent dressing a small child. He kept that parental demeanor when she asked him if there are any chance of her having a cup of coffee that morning, “No.” 

Her insides felt like ice, but after the whole bedwetting incident, she could see where he was coming from. However, Dale did outfit her with her own Camelback. She was going to try and pace herself. He didn’t seem in the mood to stop of many bathroom breaks. 

Rey could tell Dale’s mind was elsewhere because he had stopped incessantly staring her down like a hawk. Now his eyes glanced to the hotel room clock in a rapid motion that made her feel like maybe there was something interesting about the clock that she too should be fixated upon.

At 8 A.M., after a couple of protein bars apiece, he announced it was time to go. As Rey stepped outside, with his hands firmly cupping each one of her shoulders, all the hairs in her nostrils froze with her first inhale. This was not going to be a fun trip. 

Dale steered her towards a very well-kept snowmobile. “You won’t want to make a break for it,” he said lowly. “If you jump off while we are moving, I have no problem running right back over you with this bad boy here. Fuck bringing a gift at that point.” 

Rey nodded rigorously. When he told her to, she climbed up behind him on the snowmobile. She even manged to put her hands around his waist when he asked her to without a smart aleck remark. She was proud of herself. Look at the end game: that had been her driving statement all morning. It was in her benefit right now to play along and end up in this new location. There had been a spark of truthfulness in Dale’s eyes when he had said he didn’t plan on taking her back. Therefore, wasn’t this just a new twist in the adventure she’d manifested with her great escape? 

Sometimes great gifts come in odd packages. 

As the dark Alaskan morning faded into the dreary short Alaskan day, they slowly made their way out of town and the surrounding vestiges of civilization. Every passing minute brought them sinking deeper and deeper into a world removed from the reality Rey had been fighting against her entire life. There was something still and peaceful about the never ending forest and the narrow trails they now glided through. 

She supposed that Dale was probably enjoying traveling by snow machine himself because the damn thing was so loud that he couldn’t possibly hear her even if she yelled directly at him, which she got bored enough to try around lunchtime. 

“Hey, do you think we could take a break soon?” 

When that elicited absolutley no reaction or even a change in speed, she knew she was finally free to speak her mind without getting punched in the face as a repercussion. 

“You are a real shit bag,” she started, “If you only knew--amend that--if you only cared about why I am even out here in the first place, there is no way you would have given me this gorgeous new look.” She grimaced, thinking about her face. It was still sore. In fact, every time she talked the blood pounded in her cheeks and nose, reminding her that healing would actually happen much faster if she opened her mouth a lot less. She couldn’t stop though. 

Although the surroundings were beautiful, everything soon started to blend together in a white haze of snow as they whizzed along. Rey had to keep occupied somehow. “You know,” she resumed her diatribe, “Maybe you actually did me a bit of a favor. Even though you think it was my dumb old fiance who wanted me back, even though he’s the big man with all the money, I can assure you that you are mistaken.” 

Her mind conjured up a vision of him. He was alone in his office, as usual, behind a large mahogany desk. His face was narrowed with a serious expression as he looked at a tablet that was playing the news. They were running a story on her death. Of course, Rey wasn’t there for this scenario, but she could just picture the wide grin that would break out on his face when he realized they didn’t have to be married after all. 

That smile wouldn’t last long, because the realization of how unhappy his father was going to become would make the normally unshakable man grimace. His stomach would curdle. Rey knew this because he had vomited more than once in front of her when thinking about disappointing his father in any regard. Losing the prize his family had fought for so viciously since her adolescence would trigger him to smash the tablet, vomit in the wastebin, walk to the bar on the opposite side of the room, drink some liquor, and then start smashing the rest of the bottles against the floor of the office in a crazed frenzy. He had acted the measured and controlled man in public, but in the privacy of the vast office, his bottled up emotions had been allowed to run wild more than once before. Maybe he’d even consider slitting his wrists this time. Rey knew the world wouldn’t be so lucky, however. The family refused to die. It was probably the only admirable quality about them; the rest were just as disgusting. Rotten cockroaches she had admittedly held dreams of personally destroying some day. 

Rey caught herself. Did she want to spend this time looking to the past? She decided on a new train of thought as she moved her right leg slightly to itch her dry skin which had been rubbed almost raw by the rough jean fabric. Her arms were still wrapped around Dale. It wasn’t hard to keep a grip on the solid bulk of his flesh and soft layers of coat. The snow machine glided reliably on and Rey had a terrifying feeling that they had been in this spot before and were just looping through the same set of trails. Everything was covered in snow. There was no sunlight gleaming anywhere, no animals to be seen, and most of all, there was no noise save for the whizzing and whirling of the snowmobile. 

Rey tried to ground herself by considering the other human riding with her. A man who said his name was Dale, steering her towards some unknown future. In a sick way, Rey could respect this man. Unlike every other man she had ever known, Dale acted of his own accord instead of letting someone else dirty their hands on his behalf. He kidnapped her himself, instead of sending expendable cronies. He had bloodied his own hands, sending his fist into her nose. Rey didn’t know if that had brought him pleasure or remorse, regardless of what he had claimed, but a dark part of her was cheering for him even now because he had even had the audacity to act on his urge in the first place. This was what being independent was, Rey thought. Owning your actions and still charging ahead with the plan. 

With these thoughts, she started nodding off into a space of lucid dreaming. Her body was so very tired, but she knew if she let go she would definitely be thrown from the vehicle. Rey prayed they would stop soon as the giant metal sled glided through the never-ending snowfall. Stop where? It wasn’t her call. She just hoped it was somewhere warm she could lay down, untied, and get some rest.


End file.
